The Digital Divide in Education in the Knowledge Society

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) is playing a central role in the development of modern economies and societies. Every young person will need to use ICT in many different ways in their adult lives, in order to participate fully in a modern society. This has profound implications for education, both because ICT can facilitate new forms of learning and because it has become important for young people to master ICT in preparation for adult life. But is ICT living up to its potential in schools and in the lives of young people? To start to answer this question, the extent to which young people are exposed to and making use of such technology and whether those who do so are achieving desirable learning outcomes must be determined. In this article we analyse the impact that the information communications technologies are having on the training of the youths. Also it will be analysed the unequal access to ICT depending on factors such as gender and family origin. To carry out the analysis, the source has been the PISA Report 2005, from the OECD.